I agree. a person in a wheelchairs should be able to do MMA competitions. If a person in a wheelchair COULD pull that off, wouldnt that be GREAT for the disabled and the hanicapped? It would be very inspiring to see a person in a wheelchair accomplish such a goal! i believe it could be possible! But i dont believe it will be likely to be televised however. i think too many people who would be in charge of the UFC competitions and the marketing broadcasting of the UFC would agree with some other people here and i dont think too many viewers would care to see such a thing either. i dont think people will have much faith in the possibility of people in wheelchairs doing MMA. but i still think it is a good idea to have them. i just dont think it is likely that they will be put on Pay-Per-View or anything like the regular UFC. I also dont think that the UFC will want to do this kind of thing because they'd be afraid of the liability if someone were to be injured. but i still think that wheelchair MMA is possible and hope things work out. Im glad to know that youve found an art that works out for you. Good luck man!-Specter

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"The pessimist knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" -Warrel Dane

I havnt followed up on this thread but i'm glad to see not everyone is a bigot. I'm sure alot of people once had a problem with the idea of wheelchair basketball, but hey, its mainstream now. Most sports have been adapted for wheelchair users, why shouldnt martial arts.You can do anything you want Rainbowtiger and I think you'll find alot of people in the same position as you.You may just be pioneering something no one has ever had the spirit to see through before.So never let anyone tell you, "you cant".

Hey I saw a kid wrestle with NO LEGS AND NO ARMS! and win! His arms and legs were cut off at the knees and elbows, and he wrestled ppl with all their limbs. He also does Judo, so nyah nyah. The wheelchair martial arts have already been invented. Limits are for people who have them.

Remarks about the circus and midgets, punchline to a joke, and calling them 'retards' only highlights your immaturity and lack of compassion and respect. GROW UP and stop being so foolish and pathetic.

This is potentially a good thread but at risk of being locked down because of a few ignorant morons.

I don't see a problem with MMA competitions for those in wheelchairs (except possible injuries). I have seen wheelchair rugby competitions in which people are often knocked to the ground - it's brutal.

I suffered a spinal cord injury about 15 months ago and I am currently in a wheelchair. I still teach martial arts and have learned to adapt self defense techniques to my capabilities. I'm sure there are others who have/would do the same.

i rolled my car and injured my spinal cord 22 months ago (19.5 at the time). i was very active in kickboxing before the accident and have often times felt urges to brawl. ive challenged non injured guys in confrontations before but they have not taken me up, yet. it seems to me that strikes would be much more difficult to execute so when i do need to use physical force, my main form of attack will be the choke hold since my forearms and fingers are much stronger than average and i could do a significant amount of damage if i get a grip. i had a fight with a bellow-knee amputee because he did not want to play against me in the tennis tournament (i was 15 minutes late, but i just got off an international flight from las vegas to israel) so i let him know exactly what i thought about him and shoved him off the plastic chair he was sitting on. that really frustrated him so he ran up behind me and lifted me out of my chair, holding me under the arms, partially by the ribs, and instantly i reached up and back and grabbed his throat. had i not been so rational at the moment, i could have burst my fingers from one side of his throat to the other. it seems to me that the rules for MMA wheelchair would have to be entirely different, such as the use of weapons of some sort. i fought a crazy spinal cord injury friend on the tennis court in our tennis chairs (very stable, hard to flip) and i managed to get behind him while holding his arm but then it was a deadlock and he pretty much had no chance of escaping. he learned his lesson and after that we just faced each other and it came down to who had more abdominal muscles (the higher the injury on the spinal cord more muscles are affected) which was me, so i just tried to make him fall forward so i could hold his head down. apart from these two examples, i dont see how wheelchair MMA could be very dynamic... maybe with bamboo practice swords, or those cushioned gladiator mallots. i could see it being an interesting thing if a clever arsenal of weapons was allowed, but if its 1v1 hand to hand (only) combat, there would be alot of stalemates or a lot of very 1 sided victories. this aspect needs some creativity in order to work.i just bought $1,500+ of lacrosse equipment that i will introduce to the wheelchair sport leagues here in israel. i bought helmets and gloves for protective equipment. i figured that will be the best sport to be physically aggressive in for wheelchair users... i expect the equipment in about 2 months, and then i may buy more protective gear if necessary. wheelchair jousting, yeah!

if there was a "battlebots" feel to it then it could definately be a hit on tv. getting out of the chairs and rolling around is quite unaesthetic. whoever knocks the other backward or to the side -wins- could be entertaining for non-injured and ofcourse be a hit with wheelchair users. whether people smoke weed and laugh at the modern take on "galdiator" or are very much into it, it wouldnt matter as long as they tune in (numbers are important). such a broadcast would definately get a lot of attention. i recently watched Aliends Vs Predator even though i read all of the reviews of how stupid, inconsistent, and absurd the movie is (on amazon) but i loved even more knowing that. they made money, i enjoyed. that is what counts.

It is very opressive langauge to say a disabled person cannot participate in Martial Arts. For one, it is not disabled person, it is a person with a disability. Perhaps put it in these terms, are they disabled... or differently abled. It is a human rights issue, persons with a disability have the right to accodmodation to the point of undue hardship. It is not the people who are disabled, it is their environment. Equality is not reached until a person with a disability can make the same assumptions as those who are not disabled. When you have somewhere to go, do you wonder if there will be a ramp so you can get into the building? Do you wonder if the materials provided will be in a format that you can read (brail, electronic etc.) etc.

Every person deserves the right to participate in whatever they want regardless if their limitations. Where there is a will there is a way. I have trained with someone who is legally blind, and they were quite good. As soon as the lights go out it is not them who is the one with the disability, it is me.